My Friend Ping
by Suzie Q. Blue Kazoo
Summary: The Story of Mulan in Ling's Point of View. TEMPORARILY DISCONTINUED.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:**

**IMPORTANT: Before reading this, please take note of a few things:**

**Ling and Mulan do not live in the same village**

**Ling's last name (in this story, at least) is Muhau {Moo – HOW} (Cause I couldn't think of any other last name)**

**This is the story of Mulan from Ling's point of view. Obviously, he was not in every scene, so some scenes, I will have to make up, but you will most likely see similarities.**

**I recommend that you watch **_**Mulan**_** sometime soon, if you haven't seen it in awhile, just so you know what's going on in some future chapters.**

**Kay, that's it.**

My Friend Ping

1

It was a chilly afternoon, the sky was a light, luscious blue with a few white puffs scattered across it. The breeze swam gracefully through the air, knocking on wind chimes and making them sing. The village was its usual quiet self. Children were playing nonsense in the street; adults were trading goods with one other – typical day in my village.

I had been working in the garden, helping mother with household chores all morning. Since I had finished my duties, I decided to take a break and head into town for awhile, see what's what. Not much was going on (not much ever is) but it was nice to walk carelessly, not a worry on my mind.

It was mid-spring and the cherry blossoms on the trees were fully bloomed, sending a sweet aroma through the crisp air. I stopped to take a deep breath, when _bonk_ something slammed into the back of my head. I turned swiftly after being knocked off balance. On the ground lay a black shoe, one much like my own. I picked it up. _Yao_.

I walked angrily to my friends and tossed the shoe to Yao. "Here," I grumbled. "I think you accidentally flung your shoe at my head."

He and Chien Po snickered. "So how are you this _fine day_, Ling?" Yao asked, trying to keep himself from laughing as he put his shoe back on.

"Just lovely, except for this _aching pain_ in the back of my head," I growled and nudged him.

"Well maybe you should do something about that," he said, pushing me back.

"Well maybe I _will_!" I shouted, pushing him even harder. Almost instantly, we broke out into an all-out fist fight, and even more instantly, Chien Po came between us and held us each by our shirt collars, leaving us suspended in the air, flailing our arms and kicking our legs, though it was doing no harm to anyone.

"_Maybe_," Chien Po said, in his calming voice, "we should all just settle down and talk it out, peacefully." He set us down and we were quiet for a minute, glaring at each other.

"Well _maybe_ Ling should stop being such a baby," Yao muttered.

"Well _**maybe**_ Yao should stop throwing his shoe at other people's heads!" I shouted, and once again, we returned to hitting and punching the daylights out of each other. Chien Po panicked and tried to break us up, but it was no use. We were hitting and yelling, fists were flying, arms were bitten, hair was pulled – we were an absolute mess.

Just as I thought Yao was about to yank my head off, the drum of the local tower began beating with its rhythmic _Bum Ba-dum, Bum Ba-dum_. We stopped punching each other to death for a moment, and Chien Po took this opportunity to peel us off of each other. He took a brief moment to scold us of our immature behavior and told us to apologize to one another before we took off to see what all the commotion was about.

_Bum Ba-dum, Bum Ba-dum._

We gathered around the center of town, where the rest of the village was waiting. Everyone was standing around three men, adorned in gold and silk, who sat proudly on high horses. _They must be men of royalty_, I thought. I spotted my mother among the crowd and waved to her to get her attention. She saw me and nodded, just as one of the men began to speak.

"Citizens!" he said. "I bring a proclamation of the Imperial City: the Huns have invaded China!" Fearful gasps hovered across the crowd as he spoke. "By order of the Emperor, one man from every family must serve in the Imperial Army."

My stomach flipped and I suddenly felt really sick.

Yao and Chien Po looked as scared as I felt. I glanced at my mother. Her face had lost all color and was resulted to a sickly grey, though she tried to look unmoved by his words.

The scrawny, wrinkled fellow (whose name I later found out is Chi Fu) began to read out names, one by one, and one by one, honorable men stepped forward. Yao's name was called and I watched nervously as he straitened himself out, gulped, and marched proudly to Chi Fu, who handed him his scroll. Yao bowed and returned to us, made no eye-contact and didn't say a single word of it.

As Chien Po's name was called, I prayed silently to myself that maybe, just maybe, they'd accidentally skip over my name, or that they had forgotten to write it down entirely. Maybe I won't have to go to war. Maybe I won't have to risk my life. Maybe I won't have the same, awful fate as my father, may he rest in peace. Maybe –

"The Muhau Family."

Shoot.

I took a deep breath. The thoughts that were barreling through my mind wouldn't settle down for even a second so I could rightfully acknowledge their being. I pressed myself onward anyway, ignoring my inner feelings that were begging me to run away, to hide under the covers, to simply forget about the outside world. I held my head high. As he handed me my scroll, I bowed honorably, and turned, in the opposite direction of which I came, passed my mother (bless her soul) and focused only on getting to the house without fainting.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The house was quiet and dark, lit only by a few candles scattered across the room. I sat on the floor, my knees pressed up against the table, my hands in my lap. Not a word was spoken between Mother and me since that afternoon. She was busy making me my favorite dinner, quietly stirring the chicken, rice, and vegetables. It smelled great. I felt awful.

She placed a hot bowl in front of me before taking her seat at the other end of the table. I picked up my chopsticks and poked at my food. I took a glimpse of her face; it was absolutely blank. She's kept that same, emotionless look on her face since this afternoon. I took a bite of my dinner.

"This is… really good, Ma," I said, trying to bring up some conversation. She sat in silence. I took another bite. "I, uh, finished building that bench in the garden… just like you asked me." Nothing. I sat awkwardly, drumming my fingers on the table. "Ya know," I said more cheerily, "Yao did the_ funniest thing_ today…" I laughed nervously, trying my best to perk up the mood.

"Ma?" I said. "Mother?" Her eyebrows drooped, and she looked as if she were about to cry. Still, she made no eye-contact and spoke no words. I was growing impatient with her. "Mother, I_ have_ to go to war." Woah, where did_ that_ come from? The sudden change in subject (and change in tone-of-voice) startled her. Seeing that I had gotten her attention, I continued: "The Emperor _said_ so."

She stared at me with a good amount of uncomfortable silence before slamming her chopsticks on the table and storming out of the room.

"Ma!" I shouted to her. I got up and chased after her. "Mother, please!" When she came to her bedroom, she turned to me. Once more, she said nothing, but her sweet, motherly gaze was enough to get the point across before sliding the door shut right in my face.

**Author's Notes**

**I drew a picture of that previous scene. If you would like to see it, you can find it on my deviantArt page: .com**

**Review please. **

**And comment on my illustration, if you like it. **

**~Teenytinyturtle5~**


	2. Chapter 2

My Friend Ping

2

I could hardly sleep that night. My brain wouldn't shut up. _You're_ _never gonna make it through the first day of training_, it said. _You're gonna die_, it said. _Just run away. Just run. Forget about honor, what good is honor if you're dead? Run. Just run. _

I tossed and turned, trying to resist my sudden urge to run away. My thoughts were really starting to get to me.

_Is all this really worth risking?_

"I don't know…"

_Do you really think you can survive this?_

"Well… maybe…"

_You can't. Just look at you. You're a scrawny little string bean_.

"But –"

_And those arms? There's no meat on those things! Just look at them! Pathetic!_

"Well – "

_You can't do this._

"…"

_You can't do this._

"I can't."

_There's no way you'd live._

"I'd die."

_Run. Run away from it all. Forget the "greater good," worry about you. Just – _

I shut my eyes and clasped my hands over my ears. I didn't want to hear any of this. I knew what I had to do, whether I wanted to do it or not.

_It isn't worth it._

"Is too."

_If you go, you'll die._

"I'll be fine."

_You'll die._

"If I die, it's for my country – for Mother."

_Nothing is worth your life._

"Is it better to save one man, and let thousands die, or save thousands and let one man die?"

_If you're the "one man," let the others die. Think about yourself._

"You're wrong."

With that, I shut out my thoughts and spent the rest of the night counting the tiles on the ceiling; there are 4,232.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Morning, Mother," I said as I walked into the kitchen, fully dressed and ready for the long trip ahead of me. She looked at me for a moment, and I could spot a tear streaming down her cheek. She dropped what she was doing and buried her face into her hands and began to cry. I pulled her into a hug. "Ma, don't cry. I'll be okay," I said. She pushed herself away, apologized, and went back to making breakfast.

"You hungry?" she asked in a frail, quiet voice. I nodded.

"But I don't have much time. Yao and Chien Po will be here soon," I said, taking a seat on the floor.

"You're leaving so soon?" She asked. I nodded again. She set my breakfast in front of me.

"Thanks," I said before taking a bite. "Yeah, we wanna get there on time. It's better we show up early than show up late," I said with a mouth full of eggs. There was a knock at the door. "Oh, that's them." I wiped my face and got up, grabbed my bags, and ran out the door. "Bye, Ma!" I shouted on my way out.

I tossed my things on the back of the cart and sat up front with Yao and Chien Po. Mother came running out the door. "Be safe," she said as we rode off.

"I will!" I said after her. I waved and shouted my final "Goodbye," before she was completely out of sight.

**Author's Notes:**

**This was rather short. Pretty crappy chapter. Sorry.**

**It'll get better. Trust me.**

**Please review. Please. Reviews are what keep me motivated, and so far, I have no reviews. I'd like to continue posting the rest of the story, but if nobody likes it, then what's the use of cluttering the internet with it?**

**If you like the story, or have some suggestions, review. Thanks much.**

**~Teenytinyturtle5~**


	3. Chapter 3

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**

**Try to imagine the actual voice of each character as you're reading it. **

**It makes it way more fun to read.**

**And remember, the faster you review, the faster I post new chapters.**

My Friend Ping

3

The sun was shining brightly in my eyes as we traveled across the long, winding road. It spun in circles around mountain ranges, jumped high into the hills, and dove low into the valleys. I began to doubt that we were even headed in the right direction and I was starting to feel cart sick.

"Are we there yet?" I whined.

"We'll get there when we get there!" Yao growled back. I groaned and slouched in my seat, resting my head up against Chien Po's arm. Thank you, Chien Po, for being so ridiculously large and squishy.

I tried everything I could to keep myself entertained. I tried thumb wrestling with Chien Po, but his hands are about three times larger than mine, so he beat me in a good ten seconds. I tried singing a song, but my singing voice isn't exactly the best in all of China. I tried taking a nap, but that just gave me time to think, which sent my negative thoughts back to me, and I really didn't want to deal with that right now.

"Are we there _now_?" I pleaded.

"No,_ Ling_," Yao grumbled. He was getting real ticked off, but was trying his best to restrain himself from punching me into the next century. "Now quit yer yammerin', or I'll make ya _walk_ the rest'a the way." I decided it'd be best to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the trip.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

We arrived at camp by the middle of the afternoon. There were already at least a hundred men signed in and ready for training. I turned in my papers to the same wrinkly guy who gave them to me in the first place – Chi Fu was his name, I think. He spent a good ten minutes explaining "house rules" to a group of us; I highly doubt anyone paid a bit of attention. He gave each of us a tent number and told to settle ourselves in before reporting to the captain.

I grabbed my bags from the cart and told the others I'd meet back up with them once I put my stuff away. My tent was small, but there was enough room for me to sleep, at least, and I guess that's all that mattered. I set my bags down and arranged things in a semi-orderly fashion (basically, I just tossed everything into a corner).

When I got back outside, Yao and Chien Po were talking to some loony, who was rambling on and on about some tattoo of his.

"Look!" He said proudly, revealing a red dragon painted across his chest. "This tattoo will protect me from harm." Yao and I leaned closer to get a better look at this magical tattoo of his. A fantastic thought popped into my head, and with one look at Yao, I could see he had the same idea. We grinned evilly at each other before Yao wound up his fist and punched the goon right in the gut.

"I hope you can get your money back!" I laughed. Yao kissed his fist and walked away. I continued to laugh at him as he clutched at his stomach in pain, cursing whoever it was who talked him into getting that tattoo in the first place.

I patted Yao on the back, congratulating him, and he spit, as a sort of sense of victory.

"Wadda you lookin' at?" he growled at some kid who had been standing there the whole time, watching Yao's little performance.

The boy stuttered, clearly terrified of Yao. Out of nowhere, the kid gave Yao a "friendly punch" on the arm, sending Yao strait into Chien Po's belly.

"Oh, Yao, you've made a friend," Chien Po said cheerfully. Yao backed away dizzily and decided to let that one go, he's just some kid, after all, and –

_Slap!_

That boy is such an idiot.

"Woah-oh," Yao turned, and grabbed the kid by his collar. "I'm gonna hit you so hard, it'll make you ancestors dizzy!" he said, raising his fist. The boy covered his face with his hands, preparing himself for the impact.

"Yao!" Chien Po grabbed Yao by the shoulders and lifted him off the ground, away from the boy. "Relax, and chant with me," he said calmly. Yao clenched his fists and growled some more, but Chien Po ignored him. "Ahn-Noo-Ah-Mi-To-Fu-Daaaah." He chanted.

"Ahn-Noo-Ah-Mi-To-Fu-Dah…" Yao said after him, and as he did so, his mussels relaxed and his face returned to its normal color.

"Feel better?" Chien Po asked.

"Yeah," Yao mumbled. Chien Po set him down. "Eh, you ain't worth my time, _Chicken Boy_," he rolled his eyes.

"Chicken Boy?! Say that to my _face_, you _Limp Noodle_!"

That boy is such an idiot.

Yao grabbed the kid's arm and spun him around, winding up his fist once more, but before he could take a swing at him, the kid ducked and ran away. Not realizing that the boy was no longer in front of him, Yao punched me a couple times instead.

"Oh! Sorry Ling," he chuckled. He spotted the boy, who was crawling away. "Hey!" he shouted, grabbing at the boys leg. I wasn't gonna let him get away with hitting me like that, so I gave him a good kick in the butt, which sent him soaring into the air and landing right on Chien Po. Just as he was about to get back up, I leapt forward and tackled him.

"You're dead!" I shrieked, flinging my fist at his face. He pushed me over and I pulled his hair, and he punched me some more, and all the while, Chien Po was lying under us, kicking his feet in the air and flailing his arms every which-way.

I turned my head and saw that little brat who started all this. "Look! There he goes!" I shouted. Yao let go of me and ran after the boy, and I followed him. Chien Po Chased after us, trying to get us calm down. The boy ran as fast as he could right into the chef's tent, and we dashed after him. There were pots and pans all over the place, and we really made a mess of things, but we kept running.

That little punk is gonna pay!

We were out of the tent and I lost sight of the boy. Yao came to an immediate halt, and I stopped right after him. Chien Po came up from behind us, and with the slightest touch, he sent me barricading into Yao, who bumped into another guy, sending a domino effect across the whole camp until it reached the chef. He fell over as well, knocking over the big pot of rice he had made for everyone's lunch.

I sat up and looked at Yao, who looked at the only one left standing.

That boy is _such_ an _idiot_!

The whole crowd of men looked at the boy and scowled at him. One by one, we got up and crept up to him. He backed away slowly.

"Hey, guys," he laughed nervously. "Can't we, you know, settle this calmly and rationally?" and before Chien Po could happily agree, the rest of us leapt at him. He tried to run away, but others grabbed at his ankles while the rest of us hit him upside the head with whatever we could find. I reached for a fish and slapped somebody with it, who hit me back. Sooner or later, no one was hitting the boy anymore, but instead, we were all hitting each other.

"Soldiers!" Shang, the captain, shouted.

We froze – except Yao; he had to fit in one extra punch. We backed away and revealed the little worm that started the whole thing. He lay on the ground all curled up with his hands over his face.

"He started it!" we all said simultaneously.

Shang walked up to the boy. Still on the ground, he pulled his hand away from his eyes and stared at the captain, who only glared at the boy. He got up and brushed the dirt off of his suite.

"I don't need anyone causing trouble in my camp," Shang said.

"S-sorry," he said, his voice rather… girly. Realizing that, he cleared his throat and said in a much deeper voice, "I mean, uh, sorry you had to see that," he gave Shang another one of those "friendly punches" of his. "But you know how it is when you get those, uh, _manly urges_," he pounded his fists against his chest, "and you just gotta kill something!" he laughed, and hesitated for a moment before adding, "fix things, cook outdoors –"

"What's your name?" the captain asked, clearly getting annoyed with his pointless ramble. The boy stuttered nervously, as if he didn't even know he had a name.

"Your commanding officer just asked you a question!" Chi Fu chimed in. The boy stuttered some more.

"Uh, I've got a name," he laughed again, "and it's a boy's name, too." Wow, thanks for clearing that up, kid. He stood there stupidly for awhile, before announcing quietly, "His name is Ling," and nodding his head in my direction.

"I didn't ask for _his_ name. I asked for _yours_," Shang growled.

He looked terrified and just gaped up at Shang, before coming back to reality and saying, rather hesitantly, "Ah Choo."

"Ah Choo?" Shang asked.

He shook his head nervously and mumbled, "_Mushu_!"

"Mushu?"

"No!"

"Then what is it?!"

"It's Ping!" he said quickly.

"Ping?"

"Yes," he said, reaching back to scratch his neck. "My name is Ping."

"Let me see your conscription notice," the captain demanded, reaching out his hand. Ping reached for his scroll he had tucked into his belt and handed it the Shang. He opened it up and his eyes grew wide and he asked, "Fa Zhou? _The_ Fa Zhou?"

"I didn't know Fa Zhou had a son," Chi Fu stated.

"Um, h-he doesn't talk about me much," he chuckled and spit – er, _attempted_ to spit.

"I can see why," Chi Fu said to the captain. "The boy's an absolute l_unatic_!" The rest of us laughed, while Ping just stood there, feeling really stupid, I bet.

Ignoring that last statement, Shang stepped forward. "Okay, gentlemen. Thanks to your new friend Ping, you'll spend tonight picking up every single grain of rice – and tomorrow, the real work begins." I looked at Ping and glared at him. I rolled up my sleeve and Yao slammed his fist against the palm of his hand.

That boy is such an idiot.

**~Teenytinyturtle5~**


	4. Chapter 4

My Friend Ping

4

I was up and out of bed before the sun had even risen that morning. I was having trouble sleeping again last night, and three hours of picking rice out of the dirt didn't help much. My back was sore and my fingers felt really grimy. We haven't even started training yet, and already I don't think I'm cut out for the war life.

The air was cool and the grass was wet and I felt like I was the only person on the whole planet; it was so quiet. No one else was awake yet. I thought about waking up Yao, but that might earn me a punch in the nose and I didn't want to risk it. So I just sort of stood there awkwardly, pretending I was fastening the sash around my waist or tightening the band around my hair. As the sun rose higher, I could hear more movement coming from the other tents. One by one, men filed out of their tents and we all gathered around in the middle of camp.

"Morning guys," I said cheerily to Yao and Chien Po once I found them among the rest of the crowd. Chien Po returned the favor and greeted me a good morning, while Yao just grunted, ignoring me. Yao's not really a morning person.

Out of sheer boredom, I started to do my best imitation of Chi Fu. I was getting a good set of laughs, though I don't think Chi Fu was very amused. "Now see here," I said, holding on to my imaginary clipboard and wagging my finger at Chien Po. "It's against the law to breathe too heavily," I said, making up the first dumb law that popped into my head. A quiet murmur of snorts and snickers simmered over the crowd. "Bah!" I shouted. "Laughing in the presence of authority is illegal!" I waved my clipboard in the air. Bystanders chuckled at my little show and waved over a few friends. Eventually, I think the whole camp was watching

"Awh, come on _Chi Fu_," Yao said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "They didn't mean nothing by it."

"Don't touch me, don't _touch_ me!" I squealed, brushing Yao's hand off my shoulder. More laughter.

"Oh yeah? Watcha gonna do about it?" Yao grinned, poking me in the arm.

"Oh, that's it!" I shouted, throwing down my imaginary clipboard. "You wanna know what I'm gonna do about it?"

"Yeah," Yao laughed.

"You _really _wanna know what I'm gonna do about it?"

"Yeah!" the whole camp shouted.

I laughed a little to myself. I clenched up my fists, trying my best not to burst into a fit of hysteria, and cried out with all my might, "Mommy!" The whole place erupted with laughter.

Chi Fu was really getting fed up with us, "Order! People, order!" he shouted trying to catch our attention.

Some smart allelic raised his hand in the air, "I'd like a pan-fried noodle!"

Chien Po joined in the fun. "Ooh, ooh, sweet and pungent shrimp!" he shouted. People started calling out all sorts of different food dishes, which made my stomach growl. Chi Fu rolled his eyes.

"That's not funny," he murmured. I couldn't help but laugh, and apparently, neither could anyone else.

I nudged Yao, "Looks like our new friend slept in this morning." I pointed to Ping, who was just now joining the rest of us. "Hello Ping," I said a bit overly-friendly. "Are ya hungry?" I grinned at Yao. He grinned back.

"Yeah," he said, dragging out the word and pointing his finger to his chin. Ping looked really confused. "Cause I owe you," he grabbed Ping's collar, "a knuckle sandwich!" I laughed and plugged my ears with my fingers, expecting this to be one epic fight; but Ping just cowered in fear, and before Yao could give him a well deserved punch in the face, our fun was interrupted by the captain.

"Soldiers!" he exclaimed. We froze for a moment before lining up all nice and orderly. He marched forward and gave each of us a good stare-down before sliding his shirt off. I think he did that just to intimidate us. I highly doubt any man here has mussels like _that_.

"You will assemble swiftly and silently every morning." He picked up his archery bag and bow. "Anyone who acts otherwise," he walked past us, to the other end of the line, "will answer to me."

"Ooh, tough guy," Yao muttered sarcastically.

"Yao," Shang turned and pulled an arrow out of his bag and pointed it at Yao. The whole line backed away, except for Yao; he stood there in absolute fear, fear that Shang was going to shoot _him_ with the arrow. At the last second, Shang switched targets and shot the arrow at the peak of a pole that stood tall in the center of camp. "Thank you for volunteering. Retrieve the arrow."

Yao stared blankly at the arrow. He glared at Shang and cracked his knuckles. "I'll get that arrow, pretty boy," he started toward the pole before adding, "and I'll do it with my shirt _on_." He rubbed his hands together and took a big step back, threw his arms behind him, and prepared to jump.

"One moment," Shang said. Yao's stance deflated. "You seem to be missing something," he waved Chi Fu over, who waddled up to Shang carrying a box. It looked really heavy. Shang opened the box and pulled out two gold cement discs, each tied to a band of black ribbon. He tied one to Yao's arm.

"This," he said raising Yao's right arm, "represents discipline." He let go of Yao's arm and his hand fell to the ground from the weight of the disc. "And this," Shang said, tying the other disc to Yao's left arm, "represents strength." Yao fell to the ground. "You need both to reached the arrow."

Yao looked at his arms, then at the pole. He took a big step back. Threw his arms behind him, and leapt at the pole. He had a good grip for a moment, but he started to slip. Panicking, he dug his teeth into the wood for support, but it didn't help. He hit the ground with a thud.

"I'll give it a try!" I piped up and stepped forward. Yao got up and handed me the discs. "Kinda heavy," I muttered and tied them around my wrists. I sprang at the pole and sprawled by arms and legs every which-way as an attempt to make it up the pole. I thought I was really getting somewhere, but then I looked down, realizing I had actually only made it about eight feet off the ground. My hand slipped and I fell backwards off the pole, hitting my head against the wood, and landing on my chin.

"Ow," I griped. I pulled myself off the ground. Chien Po stood proudly in front of me with his hand stretched out. I gave him the discs and he patted my head and said, "Thank you." I rolled my eyes and took my place back in line. When I turned around, Chien Po was already a quarter of the way up the pole and still going.

"Alright Chien Po!" I cheered. He looked down at me. He looked _down_. "Uh-oh," Chien Po is afraid of heights.

His eyes grew wide. "Don't look down, Chien Po!" I shouted. He shut his eyes tight and started chanting. Oh, Chien Po – what a goof. All at once he just let go, and when he hit the ground, the pole jumped out of the soil at least two feet. I stood up, handed Shang the discs, apologized, and got back in line.

"Alright, who's next?" Shang asked. Nobody said a word. Ping slowly backed away and hid behind Chien Po. "Ping!" the captain shouted. Ping poked his head out from his hiding place. "How about you?" Shang asked, holding the discs out to him.

Ping sighed and stepped forward. He tied the discs around his wrists and began climbing up the pole. He fell flat on his butt the first try. He sat there for a minute before getting up and trying again. His second attempt ended with the same result.

"We've got a _long_ way to go," Shang groaned.

**~Teenytinyturtle5~**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes:**

**Thank you all so much for the reviews! They always make me happy **

My Friend Ping

5

Yesterday did _not _go well.

Not one man in the whole army could successfully complete any of Shang's "exercises," as he called them. Not _one man_. Pathetic, isn't it?

And the worst part was, Shang made it look so simple. Sure, all you have to is fling two clay pots in the air and smash them to bits on their way down, and, while doing so, perform all sorts of fancy martial arts moves. Easy as pie! Yeah, I don't think so.

Oh, but it gets worse.

So I decide to play one _teensy-weensy_ little prank on Ping. I just slipped an itty-bitty, _harmless _little cockroach down the back of his shirt. I found it pretty hilarious, the way he squirmed and jumped in frantic little circles, trying to shake the cockroach out – until I get smacked in the nose with a stick. Eventually somebody ratted me out and Chi Fu gave me some long lecture about how this is "serious business" and I shouldn't be goofing around, blah, blah, blah.

Later, we walked to a cliff, where Shang demonstrated a new "exercise." He stood at the very edge and balanced a bucket of water on his head. He instructed some men to throw rocks at him. Confused glances went all around; did he just say--? He assured us we heard right, and added that they throw the rocks as hard as they can.

They chucked the rocks at Shang, who miraculously dodged every one of them by twirling a stick in front of his face. He asked for a volunteer to go next, and I ever so politely nominated Ping.

"Ping," Shang handed Ping the bucket and the stick.

The boy stuttered and hesitated to walk anywhere near the edge of the cliff. He tried to balance the bucket on his head the way Shang had done before, but it didn't quite work the same for him. Once he had a (kind of) stable stance, I tossed my stone in the air a few times, just to intimidate him, before I lobbed it straight towards his face. He ducked and the bucket fell on his head. Blinded, he swung his stick all over the place, hoping he would hit something. He ended up whacking a rock right at Chien Po's belly.

We spent the rest of the day hiking through the mountains. My legs are sore, my neck is stiff, and to top it all off, my head hurts like _crazy_. Never skip gym class, kids, it's _not_ worth it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke up just as the sun was beginning to rise. You think it's bad getting up to go to school, try getting up to go to war. I wanted nothing more than to curl up under my covers and forget I was even here. I don't think I can handle another day of these brutal "exercises."

I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I walked out of my tent. Everyone was gathered around the pole in the center of camp. There I saw Ping, climbing up the pole, using the cement discs to _pull_ himself up.

Maybe that boy isn't such an idiot after all.

He was nearly at the top; everyone was cheering him on, and I could see his confidence rise and his sudden determination explode. He was moving up the pole at an alarming speed. He pulled himself on top of the pole, yanked out the arrow, and threw it right it Shang's feet.

Everybody applauded, and suddenly men began begging Shang to shoot the arrow back up there so they could give it a try.

Much to the captain's surprise, everyone became utterly motivated. We wanted to retry all of Shang's "exercises" and we wanted to do them right this time.

My head doesn't hurt so bad anymore.

**Author's notes:**

**If you aren't too familiar with the song "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan, then you might not quite understand what's going on in this chapter. **

**This chapter was short, because you all know what happens during that song. I didn't want to drag it out too much.**

**I love writing about Chi Fu XD. He's like the little "villain" in Ling's world (Obviously, not as big a villain as Shan Yu, but you get what I mean).**

**Reviews are **_**always**_** appreciated. **_**Always**_**. *trying not to sound desperate***

**Thanks much!**

**~Teenytinyturtle5~**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes**

**Oh my gosh. I have gotten the sweetest reviews. Thank you. Thank you all so much. Reading them just brightens my day **_**so much**_**. The short and simple ones make me smile so big. The long, in-depth ones make me wanna dance, I'm so happy. Thank you. You're so supportive.**

**Sorry it took so long to update. School is just crazy and the holidays have been so busy. I'll try to update faster. And I want to let you know that I certainly will continue writing this story. You don't need to worry, if I haven't updated in a while, I haven't disappeared. I will continue. I promise.**

**Anyway, on to Chapter 6! *buh da da daaaa***

**(Part one, because I want to post this now, and I need a little more time with the next part).**

My Friend Ping

6

Part 1

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" Yao shouted as we raced to the pond. We had all decided that it was best to take a swim. We were pretty dirty after all that hard work. Every man was trying his absolute hardest to do the best he could, and trying your hardest often results in lots of sweat, and sweat smells. So, we figured it was bath time.

"Ya-hoo!" I cried as I leapt into the cold water. My head sank completely under, and I felt the rush of the freezing water running through my hair, as if combing it free of any dirt and grime. It felt good. I shot my head up out of the water, only to see Chien Po, mid-air, about to cannon-ball right on top of us.

He set off the biggest splash you've ever seen, shooting waves that engulfed small rocks whole, sent lily pads half way across the pond, and had Yao and I flipping over entirely from the impact.

Laughing and just plain goofing around, I splashed Yao and Chien Po, who splashed me back, and it continued like that until Yao waved and shouted, "Hey, Ping!"

Ping peeked from behind a lily pad, with a look on his face, as if he weren't happy to see us. "Oh, hi guys!" he said with fake enthusiasm. "I didn't know you were here!" I looked at Chien Po. _How could he not have noticed__ that__ entrance? _"I was just washing, so now I'm clean, and I'm gonna go. Bye-bye!" and he darted behind a rock.

"Come back here!" I said, swimming in his direction. "I know we were jerks to you before, so, let's start over." I smiled sympathetically before jutting my hand out at him and saying, "Hi, I'm Ling." I shook his hand cheerfully, though my enthusiasm seemed to frighten him more than it did make him feel welcomed.

"Eh, heh heh," he backed away, trying to make an escape, but instead, ran right into Chien Po.

"And I'm Chien Po."

"Hello, Chien Po."

"And I am Yao, King of the Rock!" Yao said, perched proudly upon a boulder right along the pond. "And there ain't nothin' you girls can do about it." Ping flinched at the word 'girls.'

"Oh yeah?!" I said, showing off a cool, martial arts stance. "Well, I think Ping and I could take you!"

"I really don't wanna take him anywhere," Ping started swimming away. Way to kill a mood, Ping.

"What? But Ping, we have to fight!"

"No, we don't," he said pointing a finger at me like he was my mother. "We could just… close our eyes, and… swim around!" he started to back away again.

"C'mon!" I said, grabbing at his wrists. "Don't be such a gir – OUCH! – something bit me!" I felt a shooting pain through my rear end and I looked all around me and saw no trace of – "SNAKE!" I screeched and ran off in the opposite direction. I scrambled on top of a rock in the middle of the pond, Yao and Chien Po frantically following close behind. Terrified screams of, "Snake!" "Ack, poison!" and "Where? WHERE?" were echoing between the valleys.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Psh," I said as things started to calm down. "Some King of the Rock – ACK !" and I was pushed into the snake-infested waters.

"C'mon, guys, not funny," I said, climbing back onto the rock. "There are _snakes_ in there!" All at once, just about every man from camp jumped into the water. Guess we weren't the only ones who reeked.

**~Teenytinyturtle5~**


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